Vint Cerf "worries about the decreasing longevity of our media, and, thus, about our ability as a civilization to self-document -- to have a historical record that one day far in the future might be remarked upon and learned from."
An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes Motherboard: Magnetic films do not quite have the staying power as clay tablets.
Clay tablets are more resilient than papyrus manuscripts are more resilient than parchment are more resilient than printed photographs are more resilient than digital photographs.
At stake, according to Cerf, is "the possibility that the centuries well before ours will be better known than ours will be unless we are persistent about preserving digital content.
"The earlier media seem to have a kind of timeless longevity while modern media from the 1800s forward seem to have shrinking lifetimes.
Just as the monks and Muslims of the Middle Ages preserved content by copying into new media, won't we need to do the same for our modern content...?
Unless we face this challenge in a direct way, the truly impressive knowledge we have collectively produced in the past 100 years or so may simply evaporate with time."
He points out that much of this century's digital documents can't be viewed without software.
Do we need to start carving our web pages into clay tablets?
***
Many old films require both types of this work, which is arduous and expensive.
The cost of preserving and restoring a 90-minute black and white film is about $20,000 and can exceed $60,000 for a color feature.
The archive's vinyl-gloved technicians must remove all dirt and grit on the film with razor blades and cut out scratched portions with scissors. Film sprockets often need replacing and ripped splices re-gluing.
Hunting
through a Warner Brothers film vault three years ago, Bob Gitt, chief
preservationist of the UCLA film and television archive, came across
what looked like a gem. there, amid piles of corroded film canisters and
dusty shelving, sat a 12-reel original print of "The Divine Lady."
A long-lost, Academy Award-winning work of 1929, the film featured one of the period's great beauties, Corinne Griffith.
It portrayed the romance between Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, all spliced between sea battles (off Catalina Island).
With great excitement, Gitt ripped open each can--only to find a sticky brown powder, the residue of deteriorated nitrate film stock. Of the 12 reels, only two could be salvaged.
Such disappointment is familiar to movie historians and archivists. Experts say that of the 21,000 Hollywood-produced shorts and feature films made before 1950 on nitrate stock, the primary material of the period, about half have been lost forever, including 90% of all silent movies.
"Many of our films are under siege, and as the years go by the process is accelerating,"
"We're doing the best we can and preserving the most important rare films. But we can't always predict what people will think is important in 30 years."
The effort is considered crucial, particularly given the growing historical importance of visual media.
Some experts suggest that, one day, historians will rely on moving images as much as on the printed word to understand 20th-Century culture.
***
There are some machines available on the internet for purchase that play these tapes.
I purchased one.
It worked just long enough for me to view all of the tapes then it died.
There were quite a few duplicates of the same content on some of them.
One was blank and one was of an old broadcast of entirely something else.
I was able to digitize a couple of them and uploaded them to the internet.
But I still had some more that need to be digitized.
So I purchased another machine.
It was dead on arrival.
There are companies that will digitize old Umatic tapes for a fee.
Between the money already spent on machines and what it would cost to digitize the tapes, this project carries a big price tag.
I have done my best to locate a machine to use.
My local college audio-visual guy told me they used to use these machines at the college but now there are not any in use there.
I located a retired TV broadcaster who said he thinks he has a few machines tucked away in the back of storage somewhere.
But the prospect of him digging them out seemed bleak.
I scanned the internet and there still are machines available but it is a crap shoot buying them.
Since few people have 3/4 tapes to test the function of these machines it is always dubious purchasing them.
Some just say , "turns on," good for parts etc.
Old technology being brought forth to more modern technology is a pricey proposition.
There is a place on the internet that has done a lot of good in preservation of older technology for modern usage.
I have uploaded a few things there and hope to find the time to upload more.
I have a nice collection of cassette tapes of Brant Baker that I want to transfer to digital and upload to the internet archives.
I am always looking for more of them from people that may still have them.
Amazingly enough, these 1970's era tapes still work!
And yet I have CD's that have deteriorated with pin holes on the surface that no longer work.
The old magnetic tape technology has out lasted the CD technology in my collection.
Keep checking here if you want to keep updated as to my progress in preserving the history of Brant Baker and Shekinah Fellowship.
Because eventually I will get the job done.
***
A Trove of Old 78s Heads to Syracuse
Joe Bussard has been called the “King of Record Collectors” and there’s solid evidence to justify such a title.
In the basement of his Maryland home is a vast treasure trove of American vernacular music first recorded by phonograph companies in the 1920s and ’30s- old-time songs, hillbilly hoe-downs, hot jazz, country blues, jug band music, sanctified singing, and a whole lot more.
For over 50 years, Joe has pursued this music with a passion that borders on mania, building a world-class collection of 78 rpm records- more than 25,000 in all.
With
Joe’s cooperation, we’ve carefully remastered 24 tracks of this rare
music, representing the major genres in his collection.
Included are classic performances by such colorful names as Seven-Foot Dilly, Gitfiddle Jim, The Grayson County Railsplitters, Fess Williams’ Royal Flush Orchestra, Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hull, The Grinnell Giggers, and many more.
A 28-page color booklet gives the story behind
the music, and presents a wealth of photographs, rare label art, and
period graphics.
These recordings are not just historical relics, but vital and entertaining performances that have stood the test of time- a potent dose of great American music.
Oh ya, were having church...LOL
A long-lost, Academy Award-winning work of 1929, the film featured one of the period's great beauties, Corinne Griffith.
It portrayed the romance between Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, all spliced between sea battles (off Catalina Island).
With great excitement, Gitt ripped open each can--only to find a sticky brown powder, the residue of deteriorated nitrate film stock. Of the 12 reels, only two could be salvaged.
Such disappointment is familiar to movie historians and archivists. Experts say that of the 21,000 Hollywood-produced shorts and feature films made before 1950 on nitrate stock, the primary material of the period, about half have been lost forever, including 90% of all silent movies.
"Many of our films are under siege, and as the years go by the process is accelerating,"
"We're doing the best we can and preserving the most important rare films. But we can't always predict what people will think is important in 30 years."
The effort is considered crucial, particularly given the growing historical importance of visual media.
Some experts suggest that, one day, historians will rely on moving images as much as on the printed word to understand 20th-Century culture.
***
I was given some old broadcast tapes of Brant Baker and Shekinah Fellowship, by Ann Hume, 3/4 Umatic tapes.
There are some machines available on the internet for purchase that play these tapes.
I purchased one.
It worked just long enough for me to view all of the tapes then it died.
There were quite a few duplicates of the same content on some of them.
One was blank and one was of an old broadcast of entirely something else.
I was able to digitize a couple of them and uploaded them to the internet.
But I still had some more that need to be digitized.
So I purchased another machine.
It was dead on arrival.
There are companies that will digitize old Umatic tapes for a fee.
Between the money already spent on machines and what it would cost to digitize the tapes, this project carries a big price tag.
I have done my best to locate a machine to use.
My local college audio-visual guy told me they used to use these machines at the college but now there are not any in use there.
I located a retired TV broadcaster who said he thinks he has a few machines tucked away in the back of storage somewhere.
But the prospect of him digging them out seemed bleak.
I scanned the internet and there still are machines available but it is a crap shoot buying them.
Since few people have 3/4 tapes to test the function of these machines it is always dubious purchasing them.
Some just say , "turns on," good for parts etc.
Old technology being brought forth to more modern technology is a pricey proposition.
There is a place on the internet that has done a lot of good in preservation of older technology for modern usage.
I have uploaded a few things there and hope to find the time to upload more.
I have a nice collection of cassette tapes of Brant Baker that I want to transfer to digital and upload to the internet archives.
I am always looking for more of them from people that may still have them.
Amazingly enough, these 1970's era tapes still work!
And yet I have CD's that have deteriorated with pin holes on the surface that no longer work.
The old magnetic tape technology has out lasted the CD technology in my collection.
Keep checking here if you want to keep updated as to my progress in preserving the history of Brant Baker and Shekinah Fellowship.
Because eventually I will get the job done.
***
Joe Bussard has been called the “King of Record Collectors” and there’s solid evidence to justify such a title.
In the basement of his Maryland home is a vast treasure trove of American vernacular music first recorded by phonograph companies in the 1920s and ’30s- old-time songs, hillbilly hoe-downs, hot jazz, country blues, jug band music, sanctified singing, and a whole lot more.
For over 50 years, Joe has pursued this music with a passion that borders on mania, building a world-class collection of 78 rpm records- more than 25,000 in all.
Included are classic performances by such colorful names as Seven-Foot Dilly, Gitfiddle Jim, The Grayson County Railsplitters, Fess Williams’ Royal Flush Orchestra, Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hull, The Grinnell Giggers, and many more.
A 28-page color booklet gives the story behind
These recordings are not just historical relics, but vital and entertaining performances that have stood the test of time- a potent dose of great American music.
Oh ya, were having church...LOL
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